Red's Eevee
by CDSoundtrack
Summary: The night before his journey begins (At twelve instead of ten since that makes at least a bit more sense...), Ash Ketchum stumbles upon an old building in the woods outside Pallet Town, and comes across a new friend...


Prologue: Hidden Base, New Friend

"Woah, been a while since I've been here." Ash Ketchum murmured, crawling under a rusted chain-link fence surrounding an old building that he had fantasized was an old Pokémon Gym.

A while back, this had been his favorite place to go in order to get away from Gary or just imagine his future as the world's greatest Pokémon trainer. He had finally received his Pokémon Trainer License, and would begin his journey on the day he turned 12, and it wouldn't be long now. It was the night before, and he had come here to think about which starter he wanted. This place had been what inspired him after all.

Before he could enter, he heard noises from the inside. Machinery whirring, which was odd, the place had been abandoned for years. He peered through a stained window, seeing a group of black-garbed individuals marching along, the one in the lead carrying a Pokéball, which immediately caught the young boy's wide brown eyes. Trainers! Maybe this _was_ an old gym, and they were fixing it back up!

Thinking quickly, he clambered through the window (which was unlocked, someone inside wasn't being very competent…) after the guys wearing black had left and began using his naturally short stature to stay in the shadows of the place. He had used a similar tactic trying to catch a Pokémon early, and had scared the crap out of a Pidgey.

He wandered deeper into the old building, hearing it creak and groan around him as it withstood the tests of both industry and time. He was following the men he had seen, excitement causing him to almost jump up and down. Maybe he'd see a battle! What Pokémon would they use?

The men entered a room marked with a 'Keep Out' sign (not that Ash cared about that detail), and the young trainer to be slipped inside just as the doors slid shut.

It looked like one of the surgical rooms that Ash had seen in a Pokémon Center, a year or so back when his mother Delia took him to Vermillion City to get signed up for receiving a Trainer License. All white and sterile, with ominous machines surrounding a surgical table in the middle.

"We have the specimen Doctor." The leader of the group Ash had followed said, before tossing the Pokéball into the air, a blue stream of light showing that the Pokémon inside had been released from ownership. The light formed a small brown foxlike shape that lay on the surgical bed, obviously injured.

"Excellent work. Leave the rest to me and my assistants, go scout the area or something." The group nodded their heads before walking away, Ash still hidden away in the shadows. Were they gonna help this Pokémon? It didn't look too good.

Indeed, the small brown shape had patches of its fur missing, marks on its pink skin, and what looked like scars in the shape of needle points all along its body. This creature has been through hell.

"Eee…vee" It groaned out, trying to stand on four battered paws, only to fall back down. Ash knew that something was wrong now. Why wasn't this Pokémon at a Center? He had to do something, anything, to help it. Seeing a fire alarm across the room (in case of machinery malfunction or random Fire-types wandering in), he snuck close to it, making sure to keep out of sight of the men.

He pulled the alarm, and immediately sprinklers in the ceiling went off, and the scientists ran off, scrambling to beat one another out of the room. Once they left, the Pokémon looked up at the water, and closed its brown eyes in effort.

Almost seamlessly, its light brown hair receded into it, and the pinkish and bruised skin began to turn aquamarine in color. Its tail, once a small puff was now long and ended in a wide fin. Its facial structure altered slightly, and a 'collar' of fins soon appeared around its neck. A blue light started coming off of the Pokémon, and its wounds seemed to heal. Ash knew this Pokémon!

It was a Vaporeon, one of the Pokémon that an Eevee could evolve into. He ran up to the table, only to see the Vaporeon leap up and let out a burst of water from its mouth, which he luckily evaded, now seeing that it was a Scald rather than the Water Gun he expected.

"Hey, it's okay, I won't hurt you." He shuffled closer in a cautious manner. The Vaporeon looked at him in curiosity before trilling in a way that Ash couldn't help but take as 'Okay, I trust you.'

It nuzzled its head into the boy's outstretched hand, and he smiled a bit. He could get this Pokémon out of here! He picked up the Vaporeon, and looked around. The door had gotten locked behind the running scientists. He looked up and saw an air vent. He could use that, if he could just reach.

"Vaporeon, you need to use your strongest Water-type move on the floor below us. It'll get us into the vent so we can escape!" It nodded in understanding before unleashing a torrent that could only be either Hydro Pump or a VERY powerful Water Gun below them. Surprisingly, he had been right.

The duo launched into the vent, and they landed with surprising ease. The newly healed Vaporeon was still weak, so it devolved back into Eevee, which now looked in perfect health, before wrapping itself around the young boy's neck almost as if it were a scarf.

"I'll get you out of here." He promised to the small creature as he began clambering through the vents, trying to find a way out.

What must have been ten minutes or so later they found a vent cover that, from what Ash could see, led back out into the forest surrounding Pallet Town. He tried kicking at it with his sneaker clad foot, but unfortunately that didn't do anything.

"Eevee, I'm sorry to ask this, but can you help me with this? I can't get it open on my own…" He was upset he had to ask the exhausted creature to do more for him, but it let out a small coo of its name before hopping off his neck and looking testily at the cover.

Suddenly it began to grow in size, staying the same shape but changing in color, turning hues of red and orange that could only mean it became Flareon. It let out a few Embers to melt the grate, and then Headbutted it, shifting from Flareon to Vaporeon to use Water Gun, a much less powerful version, to cool the warped metal and allow Ash to climb out.

"Wow, thanks Eevee! Er, Flareon? Vaporeon?" He asked as the duo hopped out of the fence, the Pokemon shifting back into its base form. It cooed its name at him, pressing its head against his hand, and he laughed. "Okay, just Eevee it is. Come on, Pallet Town isn't that far away, and you can stay there with me for the night." It nodded happily, hopping back up and wrapping itself around his neck, purring a bit.

The duo walked back, and Ash knew he had a _lot_ to explain, to both his mother and to Professor Oak...


End file.
